This is a discussion on 1/3 nl live poker within the online poker forums, in the Learning Poker section; First post here, I'm 21 and have always loved everything about poker since my dad introduced me to it as a 10 year old kid.

First post here, I'm 21 and have always loved everything about poker since my dad introduced me to it as a 10 year old kid. Poker runs in my dad's side of the family's blood. Both my grandpa, who has since passed and is an inspiration for me to continue to improve my game and be the best person I can while doing so,and my father were fairly successful poker players in their day. My Grandpa moved to Vegas at one point and made it a few years living in the poker room and my dad used poker as side income for his younger years. I also still have the picture of young me with my diamond royal flush I got in 7 stud ( I swear my parents didn't mess with the cards!) I have yet to get a royal flush since despite playing a pretty fair amount of poker in the last few years.

Not that any of that really matters to most of you haha but to the main point I have a few questions after playing my first two live 1/3 nl holdem sessions. I've played a bit online, not too much as it just isn't near the same as live play in my opinion. I've played tons of home games through the past few years and since day one could always control the table and dictate how the game played out. Nothing special, besides my buddy who plays live with me now, they were all terrible poker players and won't play with me anymore because they can't call a .75 raise preflop. I decided to cash out the $200 on my Bovada account and just use it to play live and see what I can do with it. I understand this is terrible bankroll management, but as a college kid I can't afford to have a huge bankroll without grinding my way there. I can supplement that week to week with extra money if needed as I truly feel I can profit from live fairly easily. I was shocked how many shit hands even some of the regs play and pre-flop raise of $20+ very frequently.

My first night I was rather nervous but once I settled in played rather well. I ended up playing around 8 hrs and coming out down 40 bucks. I was content with this as I learned a lot and truly care more about learning right now than huge profits. I simply play ABC poker and wait for the right opportunity. Most of these players just do not like folding. They'll play k7 or a5 for $20+. My style of play right now is pretty tight, and 3 or 4 ppl will call when I raise the flop. Are they really that dumb to not realize 90% of the time I'm doing exactly what they should think I'm doing and betting top pair hard, yet they chase for a two pair with bottom pair or some shit pocket pair. Last night, I only cashed out up $37 after being $250 up for a few hours but hit a few bad river cards. Then caught myself tilting and calling a 20 dollar raise with j9o with 4 ppl in and knew it was time to call it quits. This hand still bothers me today and would like to hear if this is an absolute horrible fold by me.
(remember I'm playing low variance poker trying to learn as much as I can and slowly add new tactics and strategies. I'm starting with basic play and moving my way up. Calling all-ins but not really calling them unless I've got the nuts or something close to it.)

So I have AA in the small blind and kick it to 25 (because ppl will call this everytime and i was hoping on a big pot and to kick out a few ppl as well) and have 2 callers. Flop comes QQJ (Just great huh?) I check, next guy checks, then the last guy insta bets $75 which was like 3/4 pot. I had about 200 in chips and just couldn't call him for that and probably then end up all in. But at the same time why would he bet that high there? Odds are, he was just exploiting me being the young player I am but with the qqj he easily could have had AQ QJ JJ KQ or even Q anything because this guy is rarely folding pre-flop. He was fairly aggressive but also probably the best at the table.

What should I have done better? I usually don't like to bet that high pre-flop even with aces but did it this hand.

Also, what are some of the first things I should focus on to become a profitable player in the long run?

You folded pocket aces ? if he was loose and gambling a lot just shove it.. sometimes maybe he has, but it's not a disaster.. play tight but try to learn some tells and make some extra bucks when they are bluffing. when you are abc you are playing cards, when you catch bluffs you are playing poker.